A defendant’s response to a plaintiff’s complaint. An answer generally contains the defendant’s response to the specific allegations of the complaint (admissions or denials). Some states like California permit the defendants to generally deny all allegations of a complaint, unless the complaint is verified which requires the defendant to respond to each specific allegation raised therein. The answers also contain the defendants’ affirmative defenses.
See, e.g., Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 12.